Equine Voices Podcast

Interview with Mona Illerbrun - Berkana

January 26, 2023 Ronnie King Episode 57
Equine Voices Podcast
Interview with Mona Illerbrun - Berkana
Show Notes Transcript

Interview with Mona Illerbrun.
I'm very pleased to announce an interview with Mona Illerbrun from Berkana farm.
I have to be honest, I knew very little of Mona and was unaware of her work with horses until a regular listener to my podcast recommended her as a guest and after taking a look at her website, I felt this was a lady I would definitely like to know more about.

As the conversation went on I realized, she was an amazing lady, with some amazing life stories to share.

So sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy this episode.

Mona Illerbrun.
Mona Illerbrun is the owner and facilitator of Partner Up.
She lives off grid in the remote picturesque Blackwater Valley 65 km west of Quesnel, BC.

Mona’s 60+ year connection and love affair with horses began at birth. She found
herself always striving to make it better for the horse and this path lead her to the realization that she, as the human, was the key.

At a very young age she was honing her skills energetically and using energy to communicate with horses while at the same time utilizing her curiosity, visual acuity and awareness to decipher what the horse was saying.
This led to fluency in horse and her dedication to do “with” her horse instead of “to”.

Mona spends her time during the summer riding in the rugged outdoors and
sharing her passion for trail protection/clearing riding. Over the winter months
she uses teaching as a voice for the horse through the delivery of her 35 + hour
Partner Up Online Workshop.

Partner Up focuses on building a connected partnership with your horse by increasing your awareness of your horse and what they need from you to become trusting, confident and willing partners and by empowering you to strive to be the best you can be so you are able to be what your horse needs in every moment. Discover your honesty, authenticity and acceptance, gain confidence, kick “foe” fear to the curb, and harness your power
using energy.

https://berkanafarm.ca
https://www.facebook.com/PartnerUpPG
https://www.youtube.com/@BerkanaFarm

Video version (alongside applicable podcasts) can be viewed on facebook and YouTube.
https://www.facebook.com/equinevoices.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/@equinevoicesuk
https://www.instagram.com/equinevoices.uk

Contact Ronnie.
mailto:equinevoicesronnie@gmail.com


Ronnie:

Hello and welcome to Equine Voices my name is Ronnie and today's guest is Mona Illerburn now, I don't know a huge amount about her. In fact, I know very little about her she was recommended by one of my listeners, Derek, Maine. So I'm very grateful to Derek for recommended Mona. She can introduce herself and talk about her work with horses, but she has many of the things that she does so I'm really looking forward to this conversation. So without further ado and you'll have to excuse me I'm just getting over a bit of a cold, so I do apologize if I cough in between. I'll try my best not to, so here we go. Welcome Mona. Thank you for agreeing to come on, I've given very little away in fact, I've given nothing away because I thought it's better coming from you, especially with me sounding a bit croaky. So, would you like to explain to the listeners who you are and what it is you.

Mona:

Okay, thank you Ronnie yes first off, I'd like to say I'm honored to be part of your Equine Voices podcast, and I think it's a great way to support horses and fellow humans. So yeah, so that's pretty cool. And so a little bit about me. My name is Mona Illerbrun and I have Berkana Farm, and that's the umbrella and under that umbrella I have a couple of little businesses and one is probiotics and I've been involved in that for long time, close to 30 years and so we're gonna talk a little bit about that, but later on and then the other part is my partner up workshops, and those are designed for humans because in my travels, in my journey, humans are always looking for a connection and so the Partner Up workshop offers that because it's a way to dust off the skills you already have and start putting them to use and so I'll talk a little bit about me and a little bit about my story, I guess and then we'll just kind of go from there. So I grew up in a little small northern community and from birth I was really super energetically empathetic, I guess you would say. So my body feels the energy from everything that there is around me and so at a really early age, I struggle because I'm a human and I'm with humans, and there's no congruency because what they think and what they feel is quite often different than what they're putting forward. And so that means that energy that's coming from them isn't congruent. It's all jingled, jangled and, and I struggled with that as a little person. And so when I was probably about three years old, I started trying to find congruent energy. And of course at three years old, I, you can't put that into words, but I was looking for, and so as I started moving towards congruent energy, sometimes that journey might take me three miles away, but it always ended up at a horse. And so even at that young age, I started to associate horses. With safety because when the congruency was there, I felt safe. And so eventually my parents kind of decided to bring home a horse because chaining me to a tree or a chair wasn't probably an option, but that's the only way they were gonna keep me in the house or the yard. And so, and at that young age, I had no idea about any of this. So this is an adult telling this story backwards, but I was just drawn and I seemed to find them no matter where, where they were. And so because of that journey, it means I have been very, very fortunate to have shared time and space with many different horses. And the interesting thing is that all of this taught me. How important trust is, how important congruency is, and how the trust must be earned, not in a way that I see fit, but in the way who's ever on the receiving end sees fit. And so I kind of look at it like I have to wear a gazillion different hats because all, all of the skills that I have don't come into play with this horse or this horse, or th I just have to be the adaptable one. And so all of this sharing has, I have certain terminologies I call it. And so for me, it taught me the meaning of having a connected two-way street partner relationship. And so I'm gonna share a few of my horses that kind of had pretty big impacts on that journey and so the first one that I'll start off with is Rosebud. She taught me what it felt like to have a connection, and then she instilled in me the absolute need for connection because once you felt that nothing else kind of measures up. So now it's really important that you can manage to get that with every horse that you have to share. Now, she was always with me wherever I went. She was kind of like a dog. She followed me everywhere. And she loved chocolate cakes. So quite often on Friday nights we would go and get pizza and take the chocolate cake and ride down to the lake and sit there and we would eat our pizza and our chocolate cake. And, and we, I used to go camping and do a lot of that kind of stuff and, and so when I'd go camping, At night time, I zip up my tent and say goodnight to her. And she never ventured far. And first light though, she'd be right back at the tent and you could hear her around there. But then eventually she'd get the zipper and she'd unzip it and she'd Winnie at you. And if you didn't just jump to her little command, well then she'd grab the sleeping bag and drag it out and shake it upside down until you fell out. And so she was my best friend, my life and my everything. And unfortunately I was with a lot of things. Her life was cut short due to serious navicular. But every horse that I had after that, I put in whatever was necessary so I could have that connection. And there's So she Arrived when I was about 14 years old. And she was from the track, a two year old standard bread. And she taught me how to ride. And maybe I should say she taught me how to stay on because if you fell off, she didn't run away. She came back to finish the job. And so I have no idea what happened to her in the two years prior to her coming into my life, but she certainly had some serious demons and they stayed with her. They did not disappear. So for several years it was a miracle for me to make it to the end of the driveway without biting the dust and scramble it around. Trying to save your life and seeing the wildness in your eyes and her teeth hanging back like out as you flew by. always enough to let you know you're in deep shit. So one day she I wasn't quick enough and she damaged my pelvis quite a bit and that ride home was pretty painful. And so the next time I kind of like to look at it like the universe stepped in because even though once again I wasn't quick enough and she broke both my legs couple days after that I had cut my cast back so I could go back riding. And, and this is why I think the universe stepped in because we didn't hardly get going. And she lit up and I kicked her with both my casts and probably not one of my finer moments because it broke the backs out of both my casts, but it knocked the wind out of her. And she never bucked after that. That was her last bucking day. and it didn't change that if you fell off, she was still coming back to finish you off. And it wasn't just humans, like she couldn't be in with other horses or she'd kill'em. She, if there was a dog came into the pasture, she'd kill it. She really didn't like very many, many things. Anyhow, through all of this, we developed a relationship and she gave me a lot of skills I would've never gotten, because of course when somebody doesn't like humans, that means they're not gonna be very easy to catch. And so that totally honed my ability to be able to observe and predict what a horse is going to do well before they do it, probably even before they're totally aware that they're gonna do it. And so that skill set has served me so well over the years. now, my value to her came every winter because in the winter, no matter how much food she had, she couldn't keep warm. So when she'd see me come with that blanket, she'd be winning and she'd run right up to me, stick her head through the hole and shimmy and shake and put the whole blanket on all by herself. I didn't even have to help. And and so eventually though I decided to find another home for Kahidi. And so I guess you can say I kind of gave up on her and yeah, this is was another one of my lessons. So a fellow came from a dude ranch and Sonia, I told him that no dude will ever ride this horse. You can't put her in with other horses or she'll kill'em. She kills dogs and are only geared forward as well. 30 miles an hour at a trot. and I've never experienced a walk, and I've had her for a long time. And he looked at me and he rolled his eyes, and in a condescending tone, he kind of said to me that all these horses need is exercise. Well, needless to say, I led with my ego that day and I handed him a lead rope, and within a couple weeks, Kahidi was shot. She had busted him up pretty bad, killed a couple of his horses. And so in hindsight, you know, I never should have did what I did, but I did it. But moving forward in my life, it means I own the responsibility of whatever horse comes into my life and they stay with me till the end. It's the end of. That letting somebody else have something So that was a really big lesson and a tough one for me. I felt bad about that for a long time. Then there was lady, and so she totally fine-tuned my ability to read Cellular Energy and she taught me patience. Like there's just no tomorrow. Holy smokes, She taught me how to be humble and she taught me that she knew exactly where her feet were all the time. She taught me she was the smart one and that I was just along for the ride and only because she let me be there. And so lady was a seven year old unbroken brood mare when I got her. And her lineage was of the king line. And so, and, and you know, and part of her demeanor was. she had no patience at all for anyone that would try telling her what to do. So even an ask for the pretty please on, it evoked quite a lesson for me. And so it was a big learning curve to figure out how to set things up. So she always felt it was her choice and her decision. And so then, you know, we could just get along just fine. So Lady came to me because I got hired to, as an out rider to do the Gold Rush Trail ride. And in that we went from New Westminster and we rode horses all the way to Barkerville. And so it was eight weeks and we had paying guests. And I, as an out writer, my job was to look after the wagons and the teams and so I was to ride alongside the wagons, and in the event there might be a, a runaway or a takeoff, then I'm supposed to be able to manage my horse to get right up there so that I can get the reins right from the head horse so that I can keep everything under control all the time. And so when I was hired and I'm supposed to go with the horse, I had went lame. So I picked lady up and my neighbor had just brought her home from the auction and didn't know anything about her. And so I, I loaded her in the trailer and took her to New Westminster. I didn't know anything about her either, But we get there and so then I'm supposed to ride in a saddle. And typically my whole life I've ridden bareback. So I had bought this Australian stock Saddles for this chop so I could do it. And so I get it on Lady in the morning and we're all getting ready to go. Well, Well, the first 20 minutes was entertained for everybody cuz sh she jumped and bucked and carried on and, and her the last buck before she kind of quit everything that she was doing was she j came way up in the air and then she spiraled and came down on stiff legs and then went up and then came down and folded her legs underneath of her. So when you land like that, let, let me tell you. So after a couple of days that I got rid of the saddle because it was pinching me and I had big sores all up the inside of my legs from those stir leathers, pinching anything. And so after a week or so, we kind of got those kinks worked out and. We carried on that journey. But at this time now, I realized why she was so dirt cheap at the auction and why her knees were so big. Cuz clearly she'd done this to several people. And so, but anyhow, as, as we kind of carried on and, and went on that journey, journey, she taught me the most amazing things about how horses know exactly where their feet are. Or at least she certainly did, because a couple of times when we did have troubles with the wagon, I knew what I was supposed to do, but I wasn't sure how to get her to do what I wanted considering the fact that you could never tell her what to do. It had to be her, her decision. So, but luckily for me, she. Kind of new. And so the first time the wagons took off, she was amazing. And I was really just on there for the ride. So all this teaching that she'd been doing was like that. I'm really nothing. She used to show really came to fruition. So those big high, two and a half foot meridians that divide the traffic that you know are rounded on the top and there's, it's about a four inch rounded surface. She gallop down the top of that so she can get in front of the wagon. And let me tell you, I'm not steering, I'm not nothing. I'm like thinking, holy man, I had no idea horse could do this, And so she got, and then, and then when she had to jump off that meridian, her two legs, like on that side, went in the trace. And I'm like thinking this is just gonna be a wreck. But she moved her legs equal with the team and everything so that I could get my hand on the reins and get them all stopped. And when I did, and then she just hopped herself out of the traces like, yeah, this is nothing. And so she taught me so many, many things and, and over the years I was so privileged. Like I had 30 more years with her. And we shared quite a few ragged bond forming adventures and, but we had each other's backs and she is the center of my world. And I was the center of hers. And, and she got quite possessive, so it was kind hilarious. And anybody would try to get in between me and her and she'd bite them because it was like, no, no, she's smart. You get outta the way. And so it was kind of annoying to a lot of boyfriends, but it really made me smile. And then Gemini. So Gemini pushed every everything about me. So when Gemini came into my life, I was seven years into my recovery from what they call a, a moderate traumatic brain injury. And I had quit riding. I still had lady, and I had quit riding because my balance was so bad I couldn't stay on for loving her money. And, and so I'd get on lady and within, you know, two seconds, I'm falling off one side and she's having to reach her head around and grab that pant leg to pull that leg back down to keep me. And then pretty soon she's so pissed off at me because she can't, can't keep it on. I just gotta gotta sit there. She's like giving me the look, like, just give it up. Like this is retarded. What are you doing? And so anyhow, I had quit riding because of that. And when Gem and I came into my life, I had thought he could just be a yard or, but he was two years old and beautiful and I just could not do that to him. I just could not, not be there and do the the stuff. And so in many ways he's responsible for some of my recovery because he made me push through so many of the difficulties that I had so I could be what he needed me to be. And he really was quite aloof. And so I had to work really hard for a connection. and he had big issues on self-preservation and, and all of these things. And on top of that, he was a bully. And so, yeah, he just pushed it every weakness I had. And so it was front's face in my center and I had to start trying to figure out how to address it so that I could be what he needed me to be. And you know, he grew up in this great big, huge giant of a horse. So somewhere along the lines, they didn't tell him he had a quarter horse cuz he's really big. He is well over 16 hands and, and he's probably about 1500 pounds and he's a great big guy and I'm small. I, I'm only five feet tall, And so anyhow. One day after all of my efforts, he finally let me in. And then I got a second brain injury. And then from that one I got P T S D. And so the P T S D was, besides making it horrible for me, gem, and I couldn't cope with it. So the minute I would open the house door, he would feel that energy and he'd run to the far end of the field. He no longer felt safer on me. He yeah. So then it meant I had to figure out how to get rid of P T S D And so I started a journey on that. And then that led me to learning all for me to learn all about the physiological responses of a body and how to start correcting them so that I could Be again, what I needed to be for Gemini. And so, you know, talk a little bit about the brain injury. So the first one was pretty serious cuz I, for a couple years I couldn't hardly walk or talk. And the pro, the damage to my processing center was pretty great. And so to kind of give you a, an example, if somebody was to ask me a question and then they were able to just keep their mouth shut and not say anything, just wait. It could take up to 30 minutes or so before I answered. But I had no idea my delay was that great. Like I, I thought I was responding just like normal. I had no way of seeing any of that. And so that in itself created problems because humans don't have very much patience. they asked the question another way and then they ask it another way and I'm still not answering. And then pretty soon they're mad and saying things that no human should ever say to another human being and stomping off. And I'm still trying to figure out what happened because I, that's the processing. It was, it was kind of tough. And so that's the stuff I had to work my way through so that I could be what Jim and I needed. And and on top of that, all of that energy that I used to receive from the environment and process so that I knew my environment well, that was gone. So my body was still taking all of this in. But my brain couldn't process it. So I felt naked, like totally naked because I was in a big void and I had no way to relate to my environment or feel it, or sense it. So I felt vulnerable and so unsafe, and then I couldn't figure out why my body felt the way it felt like. And so it was a big journey starting to learn how to connect. And, and that journey is why I'm teaching what I'm teaching today because I had to learn how to bring everything back. And so ultimately that's, you know, the, the path that the universe sent me down and gave me the tools that I wanna share with other people. And so making a difference in a life. Has always been a calling and it's been the root of why I've done everything I've ever done in my entire life. But here I am with, you know, my partner Up workshop. And so Partner Up Workshop started off with me teaching people in real time, but now it's strictly online. And I like it online way, way, way better because I get to teach it exactly how I wanted to teach it and not try cramming it into a short space of time. Because all work, as everyone knows when you start working on yourself, takes time. We didn't get to be the way that we are overnight, so we're not gonna change it overnight. And so the, the program is designed to have the time and to start and slowly work and build up and go like that. And, and the. The thing for me that makes me keep doing this is because the magic that brings when humans fully embrace connection and they feel the magic in that soul, in their soul, and so then I feel it. And then it's just like there is no greater gift in the whole wide world. And so in order to have connection, you need to have a little bit of intuitiveness and a little bit of congruency, well, quite a bit of congruency. And so intuitiveness isn't something that just some of us have. We all have it. It's just that somehow sometimes our childhood put other things in place. And so we've put blocks in place because society, how it operates doesn't wholeheartedly welcome that. And so, but it's there because up until the time you're able to start defending yourself, your body is relying 100% on intuitiveness and reading the environment to keep you safe. So I have no doubt in my mind that everything that you need is already inside of you and we just need to find it and dust it off and, and start using it and, and start playing with the magic that was meant to be yours from birth. And so, yeah. And so, you know, congruency for me, if I was gonna describe it, I'd describe it like it's what a christens body emits in energy. And that must match what their conscious mind thinks and feels as well as what their subconscious mind and their soul holds. So that getting that congruency is a bit of a journey because there's a lot of things that we've never really had to think about or consider. And so when we get there, what makes connections so, so worthy is that it's a place of sacred safety, of feeling heard, seen, felt, and understood. And whether you're a human or an animal, that's where the magics h happens. And so I think we're all meant to experience it. And so I, in a nutshell, that's kind of the thing between, you know, behind partner up and we forget, but our, every cell in our body is always emitting energy and they're always oscillating. And, and each of us is unique in our, our vibrational signature. and once we learn to start harnessing what we have, we can do a lot of different things with it. And so, yeah, so it's just a pretty cool place for me. I love teaching that. The stuff, I love seeing the changes and I, I love seeing how people bloom when they feel safe. And you know, horses feel when they feel safe, they bloom too. But with people it's even more special. And so, yeah, so that's kind of, and so we spend a lot of time in the workshop getting that congruency because it's one of the biggest roadblocks to humans having a connection. And you know, the next one is nakedness, cuz we all try to hide everything about us instead of loving every bit of us. And so we have to get to a place where we can be naked because that's where congruency lies and we have to love ourselves and not worry about the rest of the world and, and focus on the validation we give ourselves and not any external validation. And yeah, so that's kind of a little bit about that and then I have a couple other sides.

Ronnie:

I had to put the mic on silent cause I had a coughing fit. So hence why I'll let you just carry on talking, which actually that's what you're here for anyway but oh my God now I know why I didn't do any research, even if I'd read that, it wouldn't have had the same impact as listening you explaining part of what happens in your life and each time you mentioned a horse, you could feel the emotion and the love, especially the Rosebud but when you was talking about Rosebud but I could feel the love, but also from, from Rosebud too. I can sense now, just a beautiful she's more human than horse. I'm gonna say that you might not agree, but she's more human. I wouldn't agree that's in our eyes. But actually she's exactly who she should have been. But yeah, you've had some challenges with some of your horses, oh my goodness. So when you said, you had to get help to recognize to start to deal with what was going on with you because you knew it was affecting your horses, what did you do? Did you look online? Did you go to somebody that was recommended?

Mona:

Kind of yes and kind of no. So when I have troubles and then I ask for help, stuff kind of shows up and so. Sometimes it's just somebody says something and it resonates and then, then that makes me, I don't know how to explain this. I guess because I'm trying to explain emotions and our language doesn't have a very good array for that. So I guess how I'll say is my whole life, whether injured or not. One of the skillset sets that I've used, and it didn't get damaged in the brain injury part was I have an ability to take everything apart and see it in a a hundred different bits. And then the curious side of me, the curious George part, wonders if this bit can go with this bit. And so then I play. And so intuitively I have figured out a lot of this stuff myself. And then once I had figured it out, then I would get the sign from the universe because something would follow my lap and I would read it and I would know, hey, well that's just what I just figured out. And so then I kind of go down that path and then I try to find other people to see if they can explain it in a way that I can glean more information out of it. And and, and so yeah. So one of the things I'm kind of good at is being able to take something that's complicated and use my words to describe it and. Make it easy for other people to understand or to morph into, I guess, I guess. And it's that's partly because I've already taken all the little bits and pieces apart. And so when they ask me a question about something, I can say, well, no, that doesn't work like that because of this, because of all of these funny little things. And then I, I'll, I'm, I'm kind of all over the place, but nonetheless, that's just me. So I'll give you an example with Fasha. So I didn't know anything about Fasha, and then one day I was out working and I, I was clearing trail and I didn't take enough. and I still had many hours to clear trails and I don't know, I, my body changed after I turned 60, I guess, so it doesn't metabolize water as well. But anyhow, I, I got dehydrated and I got dehydrated to the point where I started getting the muscle cramps and I didn't know if I was gonna build the walk out. I didn't know if I'd make it back to the vehicle. So over the next few days, I'm really focusing on hydrating myself. And when I'm really focusing on that and focusing on balancing my electrolytes, all of the stiffness and the pain that I had in different areas of my body started disappearing. So then I was like, well, huh, that doesn't make any sense. That doesn't make any sense to me. And so then I thought, well hook, hold it here just, just a minute. So I I thought, you know, there's that stuff on that chicken breast, so if that dries out. So then I thought, oh, okay. So then I, I started learning about fascia and, and, and then, so, okay, so it's connected to the amount of hydration you have. And as we age naturally we don't hang on to the same amount of water. And so then I got dehydrated again to kind of see, and yeah, all that stiffness and pain came back. So that in a little bit of is how I kind of learned. So it happens to me physically, and then I have to figure my way out around it, and then information comes down the pipe. Because when I was going through that, then Alexa from the whole horse podcast was doing a thing on Fasha. So then I tune into that, right? So then I, I get, and so that's kind of how I. Go about stuff. It's kind of ask backwards. It has to happen to me. I, something has to go wrong. I have to figure out how to kind of fix it, and then I need some sort of validation that I'm actually on the right track if that kind of makes sense.

Ronnie:

It does make sense to me, that's why I'm smiling. It makes total sense. So have you heard of Esther Hicks? She channels they call it Abraham, but it's a collective and I love her cuz she's, she's really funny as well with the messages but she says you can't have a solution while you are in the problem, you can't see a solution, you can't have the answer while you are asking the question so you have to ask the question and then let it go for the answer to flow. So that, that makes sense to me definitely. Yes. And and quite often, I'll be listening to something maybe on a podcast or something's happened to me, and then I'll hear on a podcast that something that's happened to them, it's like, oh my God, that happened to me last week and I find it amusing because I love how it shows up. I love the synchronicities, how the information shows up or the the confirmation. Yeah that you are personally on the right track or you are absorbing the right information for you at that time. Cuz everybody's different. I totally understood what you said. I was gonna say it's a shame that you have to experience it first before you get the answer but maybe that's your lot.

Mona:

I, I think that if I were to look at everything that's happened to me in my life, I've had quite a few. Things that, you know, could be looked upon as you know, negative impacts. But in reality, they have given me everything that I need to be doing what I'm doing right now. And so yeah, and I, in my life, no matter how bad something seems in that instant, if you take a couple of seconds to think about it, you can always find so many good things that are a result of whatever it is. And if you can't, you just haven't opened up to look in other dimensions, but they're there. And I think the universe doesn't, I think the universe has a plan and I think that you may not understand the plan, but at some point, everything comes together and then, you know the plan and yeah. So, yeah. So yeah, that, I guess that just kind of says it because it, it's, it's a knowing and at some point you just have a knowing And eve, excuse me, you've explained that really well. So you, you are very eloquent how you speak and and it's amazing, especially with what, what's happened to you with your brain damage, but that I didn't know that when you were replying to somebody's question that you thought you was replying straight away, but it was actually 30 minutes. That's something I wasn't aware of. So is that quite a common thing? I'm not a hundred percent. Sure. And, and I'm not a hundred percent sure because it's really difficult getting information out of people that are brain injured. And, and I think part of that is because they lacked the awareness. And so my awareness skill was honed way beyond before I had the accident. So I as well aware and that helps me in my expression and it helped in figuring stuff out. And I mean, in that time there was lots of things that were really kind of, they're funny now, but at the time they weren't. Like I used to shower, showering used to take me like five minutes when I was normal. And then I get this brain injury and, and I still think I'm five minute shower, but I get in the shower and then I run outta hot water. And so then I'm phoning the plumber and I'm mad at the plumber because he's not fixing. Cuz every time I'm shower I don't have hot water. And, and he comes and he kept, tells me everything's fine. And I'm like, and so anyhow, one day my friend was there and so she sets the timer and 48 minutes later I'm mad and I'm getting outta the shower cuz there's no hot water. And she's trying to tell me that I was in there that long and I'm arguing there's no way for that length of time. Like, what do think I trying, I'm crazy. And, and so anyhow, so then, I thought After all that, then I thought, well, could there possibly be any truth to this? So then I set my own timer and well, there really is truth to this. And then I'm like, well, how can this be? Like, how, how do you, how do like, and so then I in order to answer that question, you have to figure out how come you're taking all of this time. So then I set up a video cam and the video cam Oh my God. And so I would start shampooing my hair and then I don't know what would happen, but I guess I forgot what I was doing. So then I'd be shampooing my hair again. And it was like, I could not figure out and. So then, you know, I made myself cue cards so I could do this and flip the cue card over and do that. And, you know, I could get the shower down about maybe 40 minutes. there are certain things that I could not wrap my head around because my brain couldn't, let me see, I guess how screwed up I really was. And maybe that's because I, maybe I wouldn't have been able to deal with it at the time. I have no idea. But in bits and pieces I kind of, and then I had to figure out how I could function as normally as possible and, and be in society, like be a part of it. And so I've recovered a lot and the hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been just the most important thing for giving me quality of life back. but my deficits are still there. But how I navigate around them is what's changed and that's what makes the difference. So with brain injury, it's not about getting better like a broken arm. It's about letting go of how you used to be an accepting who you are and figuring out how you're gonna work with who you are now, like today. And so that's the magic for that. And it's not a easy thing, and our society's not set up to help you with that because like in the beginning for me, I would get asked a question and I would say, well, am I supposed to answer that for the old person or for the new person? and then they look at you and they go, well, you're only one person. And I'm like, yeah, but I know what that person would've done. But I don't know what this person would do cause I haven't been with her long enough to know. And then they treat you like you have some sort of mental disorder, but in reality it's the truth when everything about how you function has changed. How do you answer a question when you don't have enough experience in that person's shoes to be able to a answer it? So then I'd an answer it for the person that I knew and I was always the wrong answer because I can't do it how she used to do. So if society had stayed out of the picture that part would've been way easier because I would've slowly figured it all out without, would ever happen to wanna hide stuff because I didn't want people to think I was crazy.

Ronnie:

Wow, wow. Mona, I'm sat here listening to you in ore, I thinking, my god, that's some woman. Oh my goodness. I'm wondering if there's lots of other people, like you said you didn't know you was in the shower for 40 minutes, so that must be maybe similar, people with brain injuries, why it's quite hard and frustration because there must be similar experiences for them too. You can't be the only one that, that's No finding that. And if that's not put out for people that are in that situation, I mean, I don't know. If that sort of information isn't put out there, then how would they think that somebody without a brain injury would understand that? So, yeah that should be more available so people understand because it's the disability that you don't physically see. It's not a.

Mona:

Absolutely. Wow.

Ronnie:

So can you just tell us a little bit more about the partnership? What happens, is it a clinic you do or is it like a one-to-one?

Mona:

The online workshop that's what you're asking about, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So it started off being 30 lessons, but it's kind of morphed into probably gonna end up being around 45 lessons. And so I teach it one lesson a week, and the lesson is an hour long, and I might move that to an hour and a half. And then there's always a half hour for discussion afterwards. And, and the lessons are set out like this so that you get a bit of information, and then we do some stuff to kind of cement it. And then there's your homework activities, because I need you to start practicing every little bit that you're learning because the next lesson builds on the first lesson. And so it kind of takes us farther down the rabbit hole if you wanna look at it that way. And the whole goal is to give you a really solid foundation. So at the end of the day, you, you start to embrace who you are, why you are, and how you are, and have the confidence to trust that the advice that you are looking for is already there inside of you. And so it's a little bit of a different philosophy and, and it, I guess it's there in, in some ways because of things that have happened to me in the past. whenever I doubted myself and I gave my power away and, and when, I mean I gave my power away. I did what somebody else told me to do, even though it didn't feel right, they were the expert. I wasn't. So I'm doing, and so a very powerful lesson for me. And so I think, and that, and that comes out my teaching I try to get everyone to start embracing themselves and loving themselves and and the growth happens really quickly cuz I see it weekly in the people the change. So we start off, it's all about the human mind. All. We have to uncover all of the blocks that. Could prevent you from going where you want to go. And so we talk about our conscious mind, our subconscious mind. We talk about the our frame of reference. We talk about societal pressures, we talk about television, we talk about marketing. We talk about a whole gamut of things to try to get you to see how, if you're not aware, you pretty soon just start replicating all of the things you see in here with no question or thought. And then when you're not getting the results that you want, you tend to wanna blame whatever it is that you're trying to work with her on without ever looking internally and going, what's my part in this? So I want people to be able to look at themselves and say, what's my part in this? With no judgment, no blame, no anger, no fear, no nothing. I I just want it to be just an everyday thing and to own all of your beauty in all of your power. And so we kind of move through there and then we talk about energy and I, we do a lot of stuff on energy. How, how to recognize it, how to feel it, how to sense it, and start working on how to tap in from the universe and access our own power. And then we move and nothing ever ends. Cuz what we started with still gets pulled out in all of this other stuff because I'm really building a strong foundation for everybody. So then we start looking at the horses. And so now with the horses, we learn all about their vision and then we learn all about their hearing. We learn all about their sense of smell and, and all of the ways they have to interpret their environment. And, and in doing so, I keep drawing that back to the way we behave, the way they behave, how it's different, how we never consider because we're humans, so we don't ever think about how something else sees cuz it's about how we see. And so that growth period continues on through there and then I fine tune it. So now I take just the eye of the horse and we, we spend a couple of hours just on the eye and I start teaching everybody to be able to see the minute little changes in the eye and the area around the eye and what those things mean, what that horse is saying, what those say. And then we do the same with the ears, the muzzle, the nostrils the neck, the body, the tail. And so we go through all that. Then now we put it all together. So now you're gonna start looking at an overall horse and start training your eyes to see all the little bits and parts instead of just the forest, so that you're getting all of that information, cuz that visual information will help reaffirm what you're feeling inside. Then you can start matching those two up. So then you get confidence in what you're feeling because now you can match it to what you're seeing. And so then from there we move into the fear part. And so that's nine, nine or 10 lessons I think. And so in there we learn all about. how every single one of our thoughts has a physiological response in our body and it can be measured. And so, and how that affects our energy because if the thought has any negative pull, it shuts our energy off and sucks it in. And so then we can't receive and we certainly can't send. So we investigate that further. So like I keep saying, we don't ever leave anything behind. It's coming with us through this whole journey. And so now we, we need to learn all about the physiological aspects. And so then once we start identifying that, then we can figure out where we can change little things so we can mitigate that physiological response. So we bring a back congruency back into our own body and the more congruency we can get into our body, then. because of entrainment, that magic of the shared energy field, then we're able to start making that difference in the horse's body as well. And so the more we help ourselves, the more we help our horse. And so then we're really working on that two-way street. And once the horse realizes that you are helping them, then they start helping you. And so then that's where lots of magic stuff happens. And, and it's just an amazing place. And, and so we work all the way through all of that. And and so in there, you know, what does fear do? What does anger do? What does anxiety do? What about P T S S or P T S D or whatever? And, and how can we mitigate those things? And then we move into the anatomics. because everything about our body, again, over life, we have imbalances. And those imbalances impede our energy and they also impede how we ride. And we energetically block the horse because our movement is not free flowing. So then our horse to compensate will short stride or not take their right lead or left lead or whatever. But as riders, then we focus on what the horse isn't doing, not our part. So again, it's about looking at our part and correcting our part so the horse has the freedom to move, how nature intended. And then once we start fixing our misalignments, The misalignments that your horse has all start disappearing as well. And then from there, now we start learning about anatomically how they, what they actually need from us so that they can move freely and flow. So then that teaches us when to ask, because if we ask at a certain place and it's before or after, they can't do what we're asking because anatomically they're not in the correct position. So then you get resistance. And so when you wanna ride with that magical flow, you have to know when to ask so that it's, they're capable of doing what you're asking them of doing in that moment. And then you get this magical flow. And, and so you ride through the bush and the trees and, and it looks like riding is just effortless, but it's really about knowing. When to ask so that you get that and then because your horse is getting that from you, then they give back. And so as an example, I could not get on for love, more money from the ground because Gemini is way too tall. And so, and he knows that. So like if I say to him, gem and I have to go pee, he starts looking for a stump or something so that he can deposit me on the stump so I can go pee and he won't move me, I'll stand right there. And then if I say to him, oh, but I, I can't get on from here, then he'll look and he'll try to figure out how he can get himself so that I can get on from there. Or if I have to get off to fix something and there's other horses and they ride by, I'll say to'em, I know you're gonna wanna go with them, but you gotta wait for me, I gotta get this done. And, you know, he will, he'll be threatened and fu but he'll stand stalk still won't move nothing. And then, you know, I get back on and I go, Hey, I know you wanna catch up, but we're only gonna trot and we're not gonna do no crazy stuff. We're just gonna trot. And then he just does that until he catches up. And, and so we have this kind of thing and, and it happens because he knows that when he gets in the spot, I'm gonna be there for him and I'm gonna do whatever I have to do to make it okay for him. And so he does the same for me. And that's the ultimate goal throughout the whole workshop is to kind of start seeing and teaching the human how you're key so you can have everything that you want. And it's all inside of here. And it all starts here. It's not out there. So you don't need to look for the perfect horse. Whatever horse you have now, we'll get there with you. and will become when you become. And so, yeah.

Ronnie:

I could listen to you for hours and I so know why, why you are on this podcast cuz I could resonate with everything you said. It doesn't mean that I'm at that place because even though I'm intuitive and I use that to communicate and do my work, it doesn't mean I to say I get it right with my own horses. So that was lovely and again, you explained it. Very easily. I could understand every word you said, and when you was describing about getting the people to, to look at the eyes and the ears and every part of the body, for me, as you were explaining that is your energy is becoming in line with that area. You are listening and feeling or rather feeling more so you are sensing although you're looking at a particular part of the anatomy, when you get to feel that, that's the feel, is that is that what you meant, Mona?

Mona:

Absolutely because the feelings are al already there, but when you don't, haven't practiced awareness for a long time, you don't know how to recognize what they mean and so this is a way of pulling that back and forth and mm-hmm. So some of the stuff I, I get them to do is like, okay, now get a friend or somebody and you close your eyes and now you just sense and they can pick whatever horse they want and lead it by you. And you try to determine what horse they led by you, by what you feel from that horse. And so, you know, it's fun stuff and everybody can do it. And if they don't have horses, cuz some people take my workshops just for themselves. They don't have a horse. So then it's like, okay, well you can go to a mall and you can do the same thing. So now you can. Walk in the mall and see how close you can get before you feel the energy from this person. Now does that change with another person? And how about if you set a really small bubble and you're walking along, do people bump into you? But if you make a great big bubble, like then do people just miss you? So you get to play and you get to see that energy is so real and when you start really paying attention to it, then you, it really brings about the ability to start honing what you're feeling and, and, and putting a name and putting something to that.

Ronnie:

I was just thinking as you talking there, they should have that on the curriculum at schools. That's something

Mona:

Absolutely. I so agree.

Ronnie:

Should be taught because there would be less confusion in the world and it's not to say things wouldn't happen and you go around with rose tinty glasses and everything's hunky dory, but you can adjust your reactions to whatever comes along in life and you can deal with it a a little easier and not stay in that zone for, for as long as you used to stay in that zone but yeah, that would be a good one to have on the curriculum. Definitely

Mona:

absolutely.

Ronnie:

We've been on an hour, so I don't wanna keep you too long but tell us a little bit about other things that you are involved with, the nutrition side.

Mona:

Yeah. Yeah and so as with anything N nothing kind of happens in my life unless I've been to Guinea pig and, and something beyond Imagine just happened to make me into a believer. And so many, many, many years ago, I got started with beneficial bacteria. And of course I didn't know anything about beneficial bacteria at the time, and I was looking for something to help me dissolve the solids and all these pit toilets I had to look after. And so anyhow, I eventually found this product and I'd put it in the pit toilets and it would just poof, overnight, everything would be liquid and then you could just pump it all out. And so the whole story to this is on my website. And so but yeah, it was, it was game changing. So I didn't understand bacteria, didn't know anything about it. I grew up in. You know, a home where, you know, you're kind of taught bacteria is bad, but you really don't know anything else other than what you've been taught. And there I am, and now it's working in the camps in all the campsite that I had to, that I was looking after. So then beca being curious, well if it works for this, well it work for, you know, and so that's my curious mind. So then I started using it in septic systems, cattle slurries doggy do things, fish, hatcheries, you name it. I, I cuz then it was like, well it works there. Well how about here, how about here? And no matter what application it worked. And so then I thought, well if it works that good, I want something for me. Cuz if it can do all this miraculous things for the environment, what about something for me? And So I tried taking that stuff, but it, it was not designed for the human body. Well, I would be threatening a needle at a hundred patients. That was, that stuff was way too potent and I tried diluting it, but that didn't work. And so eventually I found a, a company that was making a product called Vidaza, and they were from Denmark. And so long story short, after a long time, it eventually, in 2014 it became legal to have in Canada. But meanwhile I had already been using it for probably 10 years and I'd probably had another 10 years prior to that with this other company. And, and so then, and, and by this time I already knew the benefits for the humans cuz when I could first start getting it, and then I'd have it shipped to the states and then my friends had send it to me and then I could use it. I tried it on my chickens because I, I'm k I'm kind of like, everybody always laughs and they always tease me. I'm the mad scientist or whatever, but anyhow, I need to know if something works cuz I can't just buy into something because somebody says, so I have that, that need to know without a shadow of a doubt within myself. So I thought, well, okay, I raised meat birds and I've done for most of my life, and I always do a hundred meat birds, so I know they'll consume 220 gallons of water. I know those a hundred birds will go through 50 bags of feet. Okay? So I'm gonna put a tablespoon of this stuff in every five gallons of their drinking water. And so that's what I did. And so when that batch of meat burst was done, I had 13 bags of feed left and I had no way to explain how I'd have 13 bags of feed left. So I. All the time I'm taking them to the slaughter. I'm like thinking, oh man, I'm gonna be buying all these birds back, there's, so, you know, how could this possibly be? So after I get'em slaughtered and I'm looking at the, the weights on the way home before dropping all the birds off, I'm realizing that my weight ratios had reversed. So typically I would've had 60% that would've been you know, right around the five pound mark, and then 40% that would've been around the six pound mark. Well, this time that had reversed. So I had, you know, 60% around the six pound mark and 40 around the five. And I had no way to explain that. At the time I didn't understand food conversion, you know, like none of that. And so then birds are all dropped off. I get home and I start cutting up one of the chickens and there's no smell. all of my chickens have always smelled like chicken. So now I'm running this drumstick all over to all the neighbors. Oh, Henry, can you smell anything? I don't even wanna think what they said about we behind closed doors, Anyhow, none of them can smell anything. And so I come home and I skin the breasts and I put the breasts in a plastic container in the fridge, shake and bake the rest and cooked in, eat it. And, and then it was the best chicken I'd ever made. And so then I phoned everybody and I said, well, don't put gotta cook one chicken cuz I need feedback. Right? And so over the course of a week, everybody was phoning and say, I don't know what you did girl, but best birds yet. And so meanwhile, that breast was still sitting in the fridge. And on day 19 there was still no odor, no smell, no liquid. I cooked it and ate it and. So at that point, I found the guy that, you know, owned Bosa and said, okay, like, I see all this, but I, I don't understand this. And he said to me, do you know what a cell is? And I said, of course I know what a cell is, He said, well, you know, there's ACL and it's all liquid around there. Yeah, okay. He says, well, that liquid's all immersed with beneficial bacteria because you fed the animal the beneficial bacteria. I'm going, yeah, like a still doesn't make any sense to me, right? He says, well, think about it. So he says it's refrigerated. The beneficial bacteria mean there's no room for anything pathogenic. And so they're quite happy they're eating off the muscle tissue. And I'm like, well, like how long could it keep in the fridge? And he says, quite some time. because A, something pathogenic would have to be introduced for starters, and B, they'd have to run outta something to eat there, something would have to be a reason why the beneficial bacteria would die. And I was like, okay. And so then I'm thinking, well, I'm nothing but a S of cells. You can do that for that chicken. Man. I'm in. I'm all in. And so then I, when it became legal here in Canada, I had already been waiting for years. And you know, I get ahold of'em, go, okay, look, I wanna be able to sell this stuff here. I wanna be able to tell people this is, this is like too good to be true. Like, and so over the course of time, you know, I'm testing lettuce, I'm testing all sorts of things. And so you bring home lettuce from the grocery store and three days later it's all blocked and slim. Well if you bring it home and you missed it with biosa and put it in your, your fridge, well lots of times it's good for another two weeks. And so that's just so amazing. And if I water my gardens with the biosa, then how long the plants keep after they're harvested is absolutely, I, it's unbelievable cuz it's not what we're used to seeing. And so that was my journey. And so then my horse dam and I, you know, he's got a metabolic condition and so then it was all about food restriction and all this stuff and he was so miserable. I actually contemplated putting him down because it was not nice to see him so awful. So then I thought, well maybe I could give him this stuff. So I started giving him the Vita Biosa, and lo and behold, I noticed that I had to do some things. He had to get 16 hours of exercise a week. He has to get 300 milliliters of my biosa stuff a day. And but, and it took two years to write everything, but now he, he's out there with all the other horses. He eats green grass all day long, just like they do. He eats the same hay in the wintertime. Yeah. And so that's kind of my little story with the, the biza. So that's kind of how it all started. And then the company came up with Equin Biosa, and then they made Tebia, because Terra Biosa is for your gardening soil, because. people didn't wanna buy a product that was for them and using their garden or their horses, they somehow seemed to like to have a name that says what is supposed to be used for. So osa, osa. And yeah. And so that's kind of how that all got started. So got a wealth of knowledge about probiotics and how to use it for growing your crops or your hay or your livestock cows, cattle, how to prevent scours, like all that kind of stuff and yeah, that in this itself has been a very cool journey learning all of that stuff. So, yeah, so that's part of my, my website as well.

Ronnie:

Lots of information there, I have a friend in Lincolnshire and she she buys raw milk and it was summertime and she said, take some of this home with you and I thought oh, I don't know. It's warm. I'm gonna be driving home. She says, no, trust me, it'll be fine. And it lasted for ages. And I said, how come this has not gone off? And she says, because the bacteria isn't killed when it's sterilized you got dead bacteria in the milk and it's that that goes off, it's not the actual milk, it's the bacteria. Absolutely. Yeah. So what has been the benefits for you? What do you feel for you?

Mona:

For me, I have really nice skin and you know, I'm 64 and my skin is really quite, Nice. And it's kind of radiant. I don't know how to explain it, but any other, I'm repeating what people tell me that, and it's one of the first things they talk about. And inside my body, what I notice is I had ulcerative colitis. It's gone. So I've had many years of clear scopes. And so that's a really good bonus and it helps with joint pain, oddly enough. And it helps with dental. So my dental checkups, I used to get plaque and stuff, but since I've been doing the biosa, my teeth are clean and so that's pretty amazing. Now other people notice lots of different. things. So some, you know, get sort of psoriasis, some have way better sleep, less hot flashes, and so, and others actually lose weight. So I think the different things that happen are a result of where your body's at when you start taking it. And the difference between, I guess I should talk about that for a little bit. The difference between a, the triple fermented probiotic and a pillar capsule is the fact that the triple fermented n biosa, as soon as they take it into your mouth, it is working. And then when you swallow it, it's working. So your oral cavity gets dosed with beneficial bacteria. down through, and then the vein underneath your tongue, that means the bacteria has direct access to your heart. And so it actually starts dissolving the plaque in your arteries and stuff like that. And then down through your stomach acid. It's not affected by the stomach acid cuz it's a pH of 3.5. And so you're getting benefits from your lips all the way out. Your bum when you poop it out. And when you take a pill or capsule, you don't get any oral benefits. And if those pills are capsules open up in your stomach, your stomach acid kills them. And if they do open up in your small intestine where they're supposed to open up, then you start getting benefits at whatever time factors they woken. They opened up and woke up. out. And then the other thing that goes haywire is if you have digestive problems, that means those pills or capsules could be opening up where there's no food present. And so in that, if that happens and they start eating themselves because each other is food, so bang for a buck as a consumer a fermented probiotic is always your best bang for a buck because it's working everywhere that you apply it. So you can use vida bosa on your skin. It's like having anie hydroxy peel because it eats off all of the dead skin tissues. You can use it on wounds and yeah, so it's, it's a different delivery method. And then that along with brings many different health benefit.

Ronnie:

Well, I'm certainly gonna be having a look at that in a bit more depth after this, I think definitely. Is there anything else you'd just like to say before we, we finish Mona is there anything you'd like to say to the listeners?

Mona:

Oh, that I'm grateful everybody tuned in and listened that for starters, I'm grateful for that and I'm always happy if anybody wants to message me off my website and ask any questions, I'm always happy to answer questions. And I guess ultimately I I just wanna wish everybody magic because that's what makes days just brighten and bloom and, and send it all to the universe and I wanna thank you especially for having me. I've totally enjoyed our time together.

Ronnie:

Oh, you're very welcome and I'm glad you're enjoying it, yeah, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Mona:

If anybody wanted to go to my website it's provided when we're all done here, Ron provide it, but there's more information there for my Partner Up workshop, and there's more information there about bosa and all the different products. My blog is broken down into three things, so if you wanna learn about anything, bacteria do the bacteria blog or the partner up blog for the workshop stuff and horse stuff. And then there's a health one, because every time I have a health problem and I have to learn everything about it, well then I wanna share that. So there's a health side too, so there's a whole bunch under that Berkana umbrella.

Ronnie:

I think I've got your main website partner up on this post anyway, so people can go onto that. But I'll reattach the other ones as well. We've got a couple of questions, but I don't know if you're gonna have time Lisa Brown. She's talking about milk thistle and mushroom. Do you want to talk about that or would you rather so what was the question? She's wanted details of milk thistle and mushroom.

Mona:

Okay. All right. So she's asking what's the difference between the milk thistle Biosa and the Chaga Biosa and so the difference being is in the base. So in the milk thistle, they have used copious amounts of milk thistle in that brew. So the bacteria are bio adjusting, the milk thistle, and then the chag is the same thing so they're using that as their base, that they're doing the, the fermentation process over and so that's what makes the difference.

Ronnie:

Yeah and Derek Main, so Derek was the person that recommended you. Yeah. So it's lovely that he's listening. So thank you. Do you know Derek.

Mona:

Yes. Yes. He's awesome.

Ronnie:

Oh, well, there you go. Yeah. He recommended you.

Mona:

He's actually taking the workshop.

Ronnie:

Oh, so that's how he knew? Yeah. Well I wondered,

Mona:

Yeah he met me because of the podcast I did for Alexa. And so then that's kind of how we came into each other's orbit.

Ronnie:

Okay. Okay. So Lisa's just asked what are the health benefits of those? She's talking about the milk thistle and the mushroom. Yeah.

Mona:

Probably in all honesty, I'm not a hundred percent sure. The company has not done any independent testing and they have not been able to provide me with any Lab reports so that I can say, this is how much of the milk thistle you're getting, or this is how much you know, of the chaga that's left or whatever and so I can't answer that. Yeah, no.

Ronnie:

That's, that's fine. That's fine. Thank you Lisa for your questions anyway. Thank you. Okay, so I think we're gonna wrap it up now. Thank you so much, Mona. It's been a pleasure listening to you. I would love to have you back on again to talk a little bit more in depth about your intuition side Yeah a little bit more about that and the horses I think, I'd love to have you back if you'd like to visit again, I would love to. So do you wanna safe up

Mona:

Bye-bye everyone thank you for joining. Until next time.

Ronnie:

What a fascinating lady, I could have listened to her all night. Thank you everybody that stopped on by and for your questions. It's really nice for my guests because they do this in their own time and they want to share their knowledge and their skills and their experiences, which is great for all of us. Yeah I love listening to Mona I really did. Thank you so much. Thanks Derek Lisa for your questions and for Derek, for recommended Mona. Great choice. Take care. Have a lovely time with your horses. Hope the weather is kind to you, wherever you are in the world and I shall see you very soon. Bye for now.